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“Opening one’s eyes may take a lifetime. Seeing is done in a flash.” - Fr. Anthony de Mello in ‘One Minute Wisdom’

Like everyone
else, I, too, wake up every morning looking forward to be happy. Now, if there
is nothing in the day that I would be enthusiastic and excited about, there is
no way I can hope to be happy along my day. The wise say, that doing what we love will make us happy.
It is because we do it with great enthusiasm… But, they, also, say, that if we cannot
do in life what we love, we should learn to love what we do… What is the other way left for us to be happy in life? Perhaps, an attitude of gratitude. But, again, learning to
love what we do is nothing but being grateful for what has been offered to us.
Isn’t it? Yes, every day, like everyone else, I look forward to be
happy… and, I keep getting the same advice, “Do with love whatever you do… do
with a great heart... Complain and crib less… Thank and appreciate more… Help
and empower others more… …

In
one of THE DAWN CLUB debating sessions, the topic was cricket craze. A young
boy blasted, without quoting George Bernard Shaw, “A famous man had said,
cricket is a game played by eleven fools and watched by eleven-thousand fools.” “Whoever had said that,”
thundered another young-man “was the biggest fool!” Today, like billions of
‘fools’, all over the world, I, too,
stayed at home to watch the India-Australia World Cup Semifinals. Right from
the first over of Indian innings, my heart was telling me, “You fool, you
should have gone to work!” After the fall of seventh wicket, I switched the TV
off… Ashwin, a 12th-standard
(ISC) cricket-fool had his last Board paper, today, at noon. At around 11, I
saw his FB status. “Angry… Ind-Aus Semifinals… And I am supposed to write my
last Accounts paper today!” In the evening Ashwin
called me to say that the paper was good. “Are you still angry?” I teased him.

Pic.: Rajiv Sharma “Sometimes it is the journey that
teaches youa lot about your destination.” -Darke Many
a times, when my dearest ones ask me as to why I want to reach a
certain destination, I find myself struggling for an answer. Because, that’s
the time I become aware, that if my focus is more on reaching my destination –
on becoming – rather than the process or the journey I chose to embark upon –
on being… yes, if I am more stuck with reaching the destination rather than experiencing
the joy and glory of my journey, I will only succeed in proving a point… Telling
the world, “Hey, look, I have made it… I have arrived.” I alone will know, deep
inside, if, after reaching my destination, my life would be any different from
how it was before I had set on my journey… I alone know if the journey was
worth it. Gandhi would, often,
say, “Our means are as important as our ends.” He knew, how foolish we could be
to think, that once the British left, we all would be far, far happier. He taught
u…

Pic.: Alwyn Mathais “If you don't get out of
the box you've been raised in, you won't understand how
much bigger the world is.” - Angelina Jolie The ‘box’, Angelina is referring to, is our mind. Unless, we bring
ourselves out of the rut – the image – we are in, we shall, always, be held
captive there. Yes, inside the ‘box’. Someone had said it, rather bluntly, this
way: “A rag-picker’s son will, always, remain a rig-picker as long as he has
the image of the rag-picker.” And, that’s the story of each
and every one of us… We have this image of the
situation in which we are born and grown… That’s our ‘box’, our ‘image’… our
‘world’. So, till we don’t look at it hard and decide to re-sketch this
image, decide to re-write our script, we will, always, remain caught-up in our
‘boxes’. There should be something
bigger than us calling us, all the time… There should be something greater challenging
us, all the time… A bigger vision, a greater cause… a brighter place to be…
Only then will …

Last
afternoon, when I was talking to some of my old acquaintances, another friend of
mine, a doctor, showed up. I introduced him to my old friends and our
discussion continued. During the course of this discussion, my doctor friend, referring
to me, casually said to my other friends present, “To me, Gerry (He calls me
Gerry sir!) is a ‘Diamond in Jharkhand’!” Immediately, my other friends began to nod in agreement,
while I was left clueless as to what was the significance of a diamond in
Jharkhand’. Well, the rest of the discussion cleared the coal around
this diamond thing… My doctor friend and others knew about the wealth hidden
in the diamond mines of this otherwise remote state called Jharkhand. They knew,
that no such mines existed in great cities like Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai. But, my
friends, also, knew this: unless someone digs the diamond out of black coal
mines and unless someone transports it to big cities – where people who appreciate,
value and can afford…

One
of the most humbling moments in the life of a teacher – at least in my life –
is when, many, many years later, your student comes back to you to give you
back that priceless lesson, which you had imparted to him or her several years
ago. Your lesson had empowered the student when he or she needed it the most.
And, now, here comes the student to empower you, when you need it the most! I believe, this happens to all teachers several times in
their lives… The students grow up to become great physicians and surgeons…
and they come back to treat their teacher… The teacher has lost strength… also,
hope…”Teacher, it was you who taught us not to lose strength, not to lose hope,”
the student, now, reminds the teacher… The students grow up to become Lawyers, Psychologists,
Chartered Accountants, School teachers and Principals; they become Architects, Builders,
Bank Mangers, movie and sports stars, even Ministers and Clergymen… They all come
back to their teachers, who have, no…

“Selling millions of records is great; but, at the end of the day, it really
doesn't bring peace.” - Toby Mac

On
some days, some words or phrases keep coming to your lips… and, they come
straight from your heart. Today, it was ‘In good faith’… I have used it, today,
in my conversation with, at least, ten people! What was I trying to achieve through the use of this
phrase? Was I trying to ‘sell’ them something, make hem believe in me, or, in I
was trying to present before them? Though I fully believe, that, in this world, each and
every one ‘sells’… and, though I know, that, if you have a fantastic product,
service or idea and do not know how to present it to those who it is meant to
reach, then, there is something wrong with your approach and attitude. Yes,
though I fully believe in this theory – rather, the reality – I refuse to
believe, that we should ‘mislead’, ‘hard-sell’ whatever we want to promote. The mindset of hard-selling is quite a deceptive one. Of…

There
are some things in life, which we are deeply convinced about… We believe in them
and we are passionate about them, so much so, they have become our ‘magnificent
obsessions’… Some ideals, some dreams, some projects, some causes… Yes, there
‘are’ those things in our lives which we alone know how close they are to our
hearts… we breathe them all day and all night long… all through the year and
all through our lives… We wake up with those things, we go to sleep with those
things… We talk about them to everyone and everywhere… And, it seems, our lives
would be empty and miserable without realizing those ideals and dreams… without
completing that journey, without reaching that destination… Every dream, which is dreamt passionately, every ideal
which is cherished very, very intimately… and every cause which is carved on
the solid rock of fine intentions and integrity, is bound to be co…

Pic.: Chetna Shetty A
couple of days ago, a friend of mine pointed to some of The Dawn Club
activities and events of the past and wondered if they had yielded the ‘desired
results’. “Have they just gone wasted?” he was concerned. I took a long pause before
I could reply to my friend. The question
was so familiar to me; for, more than I had heard my well-wishers asking this
to me, I have asked this to myself. Inside me, there had been – there still are
– two voices… One, soars, dreams, trusts, embraces, laughs, rejoices… The other
sulks, dreads, doubts, distances, broods and despairs…. One comes from the
sphere of abundance… The other comes from the sphere of lack… One makes me walk
into the world with my open arms, the other, with my guarded fists… So, to this concerned
friend of mine, I replied, “No, not at all… Every activity we did seem to me as
the connecting dots… They have brought us here, today.” Another friend of mine,
who was with us, came up to support my view. “Take the case o…

'Passionate about Life.'... That's how I see myself. For me, the term 'passion' has a special meaning. It is living life with its totality... With all its hues and confusions, with all its triumphs and defeats.
I consider myself as a little kid, still groping in the dark -- trying to find a way out of this great maze. Sometimes, I wonder: whether there is a way out at all? Whether the maze itself is the way?
Thus, as a kid awe-struck by this amazing mystery called LIFE, I have a lot to share with my fellow kids. I believe, it would be an exciting and fulfilling journey, each morning...
I am, indeed, looking forward to each dawn, with fresh eyes... And my fresh note to share...
Love,
GERALD D'CUNHA